Seamless article of knitted footwear and in method of producing the same



May 29, 1956 Filed March 8, 1955 A. P. SAUNDERS SEAMLEISS ARTICLE OF KNITTED FOOTWEAR AND IN METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor Angel) PERCY .Sfll/NDEQS By Attorney y 9, 1956 A. P. SAUNDERS 2,747,389

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Inventor flLFRED PERCY SflUNDERS B Attorney United States PatentO SEAMLESS ARTICLE OF KNITTED FOOTWEAR AND INMETHOD F PRODUCING THE SAME Alfred Percy Saunders, Leicester, England, assignor to Wildt. and Company Limited, Leicester, England, a British company Application March 3, 1955, Serial No. 492,961

Claims'priority, application. Great Britain March-15, 1954 8 Claims. (Cl. 66-172) This invention relates to seamless articles, of knitted footwear, and has reference particularly to such articles of the kind. having. a turn-over top.

Thus, the invention is applicable not only to socks having. a shortleg and a. turn-over top, such as are worn by children, but also to. ladies tennis socks, ankle socks, three-quarter hose and certain types of sports hose.

Heretofore, if it was desired to'pattern a. turn-over top by a wrap thread design, the said top had to be made on a machine separate from that onwhich. the remainder of the article was produced, the said top being subsequently run on or seamed to the leg of the article. If this had notbeen so, and the top. had been. knitted in. one piece with the remainder of. the article produced. in the normal way, then when the top was folded over in wear, the Wrong. side of the design would have been presented outwardly.

The primary objects of the present invention are to provide, firstly', an improved seamless article of knitted footwear having a turn-over top patterned by a wrap thread design, and, secondly, a simple and effective meth- 0d of making such an article which avoids the necessity of knitting it in two separate parts.

The improved seamless article of knitted footwear is characterised. in that the turn-over top is knitted in one piece with the remainder of the article and is. patterned by a wrap thread design which faces outwardly, i. e. appears on the outside, when the top is in its folded over condition.

To this end, the turn-over top and at least the heel and the toe of the article are reversely knittedas' compared with the leg and at least the instep portion of the foot, so that by turning the article (as produced) inside out the wrap thread design will appear on the outside of the upper portion of the top when folded over. Thus, the leg and at least the instep portion may be knitted inside out, as compared with conventional practice, whilst the top and at least the heel and toe are knitted in the normal way: accordingly, when the article is reversed, the leg and the instep will be the right (and normal) side out, whereas the top and the heel and the toe will be inside out. But since the upper portion of the top is eventually folded over, the wrap thread design will be again reversed so that it faces outwardly.

It is to be clearly understood that in this specification the term leg is used in a sufficiently wide sense to include a portion which covers only the ankle.

The wrap striping threads are interknitted with plain loops or stitches which, in the article as worn, face outwardly. Thus, in the finished article, i. e. regarding this as produced and turned inside out, but before the top has been folded over, all of the outwardly facing plain loops or stitches both in the leg and in at least the instep portion of the foot will be seen to be formed in the opposite direction to the plain knitted loops or stitches in the turn-over top and in the heel and toe.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the sole or foot bottom of the improved article may, if desired,

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. 2 also be reversely knitted in the same manner as the heel and the toe. Alternatively, the. entire foot, i. e. both the instep and the sole, may be tubularly knitted in the same way as the. leg,

The patterned. turn-over top knitted integrally with the remainder of the. article may be wholly non-rib in character. Thus, for example, it may be entirely plain or purl knitted. Or, as is principally the intention, the article may be formed with a turn-over rib top knitted on. any appropriate rib basis, e. g. 1 x 1-, 2v x 2 or any desired broad. rib, accordingtothe. character of the wrap thread. design required. In any event, the embroidery stitches formedfrom the wrap striping, threads are combined with plain. loops or stitches of the ground yarn in the top.

The wrap striping effects may be produced by single needle or/ and multi-needle wrapping.

The leg and the instep may also be knitted. on a nonrib, rib or broad rib basis, according to requirements.

To enable the invention to be more clearly understood, a specific example of the improved seamless article of knitted footwear will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1: illustrates a turn-over top sock made in accordance with. the. invention and: turned inside out to present the wrap thread design on the outside, and,

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation, drawn to a. greatly magnified scale, of fragmentary portions of the turn-over top, the leg and. heel (or toe) fabric of the said sock.

The particular sock illustrated, by way of example, in Figure 1 includes a Welt 1 followed by a l xl rib turnover top 2 the folded over' portion 2a of which is patterned by a wrap thread design 3. This design is produced by combining embroidery stitches with selected plain loops or stitches of the outwardly facing wales (alternating with the inwardly facingrib wales.) of the folded. over portion 2a. The sock has a plain leg 4 and plain instep 5 in which all of the knitted loops face outwardly. On the other hand, the heel 6, the associated high heel portion 7, the sole or foot bottom 8 and the toe 9 are all reversely knitted and have inwardly facing plain loops or stitches so that they are, in fact, inside out in. relation. to the leg: 4 and the instep 5. The numeral 10 indicates; the linking. courses, whilst the. locations at which yarn changes are effected in the turn-over top 2 are depicted at 11.

In Figure 2, the different portions of fabric adjoin or are closely juxtaposed to facilitate comparison. Moreover, it is assumed that the sock has been knitted, taken ed the machine and turned inside out, 'but the top has not yet been folded over. In the fragmentary portion of the l X l rib turn-over top 2, depicted in this figure, the alternate rib wales are indicated at R and the intervening plain wales at P. The design 3, a very small portion of. which is shown, is composed of embroidery stitches E'S which are knitted from individual wrap threads WT and combined with selected plain loops or stitches PL in the wales P. Thus, in the specific example illustrated, embroidery stitches ES are interknitted with plain loops or stitches PL in even courses in desired ones of the wales P, and in the odd courses in other of the said wales, although this particular disposition is shown merely by way of example and may vary widely, according to requirements. At F are indicated floats 0f the wrap threads connecting the embroidery stitches 158. Thus, although the inside face of the turn-over top 2 is shown in Figure 2 it will, of course, be understood that when the said top is folded over for wear, the wales P in which the wrap threads WT are incorporated will be outwardly facing, and the floats F will accordingly be hidden from view.

As will be seen, in the fragmentary portion of leg fabric 4 depicted in Figure 2 all of the knitted loops KL face outward-1y, whereas in the heel fabric 6 (and similarly in the toe fabric) the loops KL are all reversely knitted and face inwardly. 1

According to a modification of the sock described'with reference to Figure 1, the sole or foot bottom 8 may have outwardly facing loops or stitches in the same way as the leg and .the instep. Moreover, and as will'be appreciated from the foregoing description, the turn-over top may alternatively becpurl or plain, and at least the leg and the instep may be knitted on anydesired rib basis.

I claim:

1. A seamless article of knitted footwear comprising a leg and an instep portion of a foot incorporating out wardly facing plain knitted loops, and a turn-over top knitted in one piece with the remainder of the article, said top including plain knitted loops of a ground yarn having combined therewith embroiderystitches formed from individually incorporated wrap striping threads, said plain knitted loops in the top, before the latter has been folded over, facing inwardly and being formed in the opposite direction to the aforesaid outwardly facing plain loops in the leg and the instep portion of the foot.

2. A seamless article of knitted footwear comprising a leg and an instep portion of a foot having outwardly facing plain knitted loops, plain but reversely knitted heel and toe pouches having inwardly facing knitted loops, and a turn-over top which is knitted in one piece with the said leg and includes plain knitted loops which also face inwardly (before the top is folded over) and are combined with embroidery stitches formed from individual-1y incorporated wrap striping threads.

3. A seamless article of knitted footwear comp-rising a welt, a rib turn-over top the folded over portion of which has outwardly facing wales of plain loops and inwardly facing wales of rib loops and is patterned by a wrap thread design produced by combining embroidery stitches with selected plain loops of the said outwardly facing wales, a plain leg and a plain instep of a foot having outwardly facing knitted loops, said leg being knitted integrally with the turnover top, and a heel, a foot bottom and a toe all reversely knitted and having inwardly facing plain loops.

4. A seamless article of knitted footwear according to claim 3, wherein the leg and the instep are knitted on a rib basis. I

S. A seamless article of knitted footwear comprising a welt, a ribturn-over top the folded over portion of which has outwardly facing wales of plain loops and inwardly facing wales of rib loops and is patterned by a wrap thread design produced by combining embroidery stitches with selected plain loops of the said outwardly facing wales, a plain leg, and an entirely plain foot having outwardly facing knitted loops, said leg being knitted integrally with the turn-over top, and a reversely knitted heel and a reversely knitted toe having inwardly facing plain loops.

6. A seamless article of knit-ted footwear comprising a leg and a foot (instep and sole portions) which are both tubularly knitted and have outwardly facing plain knitted loops, plain but reversely knit-ted heel and toe pouches having inwardly facing knitted loops, and a turn-over top which is knitted in one piece with the said leg and includes plain knitted loops which also face inwardly (before the top is folded over) and are combined with embroidery stitches formed from individually incorporated wrap striping threads.

7. Making a seamless article of knitted footwear having a turn-over top patterned by a wrap-thread design, a leg integral with the said top, a foot comprising instep and sole portions a heel and a toe by reversely knitting the said turn-over top and at least the heel and the toe as compared with the leg and at least the instep portion of the foot, and turning the article as produced inside out so that the wrap thread design in the top will appear on the outside of the upper portion of the said top when the latte-r is folded over.

8. Making a seamless article of knitted footwear having a turn-over top, patterned by a wrap-thread design, a leg integral with the said top, a foot comprising instep and sole portions and a heel and a toe by knitting the leg and at least the instep portion of the .foot inside out, and knitting the turn-over top and at least the heel and the toe in the normal way in one continuous operation, reversing the article so that the leg and the instep portion will be the right and normal side out whereas the turn-over top and the heel and the toe will be inside out thereby enabling the wrap thread design to face outwardly when the upper portion of the said top is folded over.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,484,105 Young Feb. 19,1924

l,965,873 Wildt et al. July 10, 1934 2,361,152 Saussamann et al Oct. 24,1944

FOREIGN PATENTS 426,276 Great Britain Apr. 1, 1935 

